another old green to get us started - the first one I wrote under this name, in fact

>“Oh, dear… is this really happening? Are we actually about to do this?”
>You check your tie as you leave the bustling streets behind and draw closer to the entrance of what has to be the most luxurious hotel in Manehattan.
>Gilded statues line the walkway to the lobby, complete with a red carpet and a dejected-looking butler at the door ushering people inside.
>A quick look at the skyscraper looming above you, and your nerves start to take hold. You’ve had a taste of luxury here and there in your life, but nothing even remotely close to this.
>You thumb the invitations in your pocket to make sure they’re still there. Fluttering the edges of the thick card stock back and forth on your fingers gives you some sense of reassurance that, yes, you do belong here.
>Well, technically you’re a plus one, but still.
>Pushing aside your apprehensiveness for a bit, you turn your focus to Rarity, who’s preoccupied with checking to make sure her dress isn’t off in some way that escapes you.
>You’d told her a couple times before you arrived that she looked, in your words, “impeccable.”
>None of that staunched her tide of uneasiness, however, and you’re sure she’s checked her makeup at least twelve separate times since you both left the boutique.
>As your walk up to the doorpony nears its end, you gently rest a hand on her withers, drawing her attention away from a frill that looks as good as any other on her dress.
>She looks pensive, but those blue eyes are on you; you decide not to waste the opportunity.
“Hey. You look lovely, rares.”
>A bit hamfisted, but it looks like it worked a bit. A dainty smile spreads across her face, reserved in the face of what awaited the both of you inside, but present nonetheless.
>“Oh, hush, you,” she coos, shifting her gaze to your matching ensemble. “What’s that, now, eight different compliments since we left? You’re just brown-nosing at this point, darling.”
“It can’t be brown nosing if it’s the truth, can it?”
>You gesture toward her dress, eyeing it up and down. At a glance, it’s hard to tell it isn’t jet black, but a lengthier examination would show that it’s actually an incredibly deep midnight blue.
>Interspersed throughout the piece is what looks like glitter, but in reality, is actually reflective gemstones that have been reduced to a size almost invisible to the eye apart from their shimmering reflections.
>The idea had come to her about a month ago after hearing about one of Twilight’s friendship lessons.
>She had even named the dress after it during the sketching stage; The Lifted Veil, she calls it.
>A testament to looking beyond surface appearances.
>You come away from your millisecond-long train of thought, refocusing on Rarity in the present time.